1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to the presentation of media content on a playback environment. More particularly, the present invention relates to the initialization of media assets on a playback environment.
2. Background Art
Initial loading of media assets from an optical storage medium, such as Blu-ray Disc™ optical discs, for example, into a playback environment, such as a Blu-ray Disc player, is well known in the art. Blu-ray Disk is a trademark owned by the Blu-ray Disk Association (BDA) in the United States and other jurisdictions. For example, a Blu-ray Disc player may be configured to load all media assets from an inserted media disc before giving the user the ability to playback the primary media content stored on the media disc, e.g. a feature film or other movie content. By loading all of the media assets from the media disc into the disc player memory, the disc player ensures that the user may not be required to spend additional time waiting for assets to load after the disc player begins allowing the user access to the interactive contents on the media disc. By loading all media assets from the media disc initially, the remainder of the user's experience in enjoying the primary media content may proceed with minimal media, asset loading interruptions.
Unfortunately, loading all assets from a high density Blu-ray Disc or other high-definition (HD) optical disc, for example, into a disc player memory at initialization may result in a significant waiting period before the user can begin to enjoy the primary media content. It may be typical for this wait period to last three or more minutes before a typical HD optical disc player finishes loading all available media assets from the media disc into the media disc player memory. That delay, over which the user has no control, may be a substantial source of frustration for the user, thereby reducing user enjoyment.
Accordingly, there is a need to overcome the drawbacks and deficiencies in the art by reducing media playback initiation time on a playback environment.